You know what? I reckon that is the 12 months Luke Littler might lastly be prepared for the Premier League. Clearly all of us nonetheless need to wrap him up in cotton wool. Clearly we’re all nonetheless deeply involved about how the eye and stress might have an effect on his recreation. However my wager – if the proof of the final 12 months is any information – is that he would possibly simply be capable to deal with it.
Premier League champion, Grand Slam champion, a slew of victories throughout eight completely different nations within the Professional Tour, the European Tour and the World Collection. 9-dart finishes falling out of his sleeves. Had he not additionally gone on to win his first world championship on the age of 17, we might nonetheless be toasting one of the outstanding full debut seasons ever seen within the sport’s skilled period.
Now, after beating Michael van Gerwen in Friday’s remaining, Littler talks of bridging the hole to Phil Taylor, a mere 15 world titles forward of him, and perhaps you suppose that’s life like and perhaps you don’t, however both approach it’s a debate price having. Think about what extra he may need been capable of obtain if – as Gary Anderson so acridly warned this time final 12 months – the media hadn’t been busy ruining him.
For Littler, who seemed completely exhausted as he posed with the trophy on Friday night time, there would be the briefest of respites earlier than the 12-month treadmill begins once more. Within the brief time period the milestones will maintain piling up: a primary Premier League title defence, a primary Masters look on the finish of this month, an England debut in June as he and Luke Humphries tackle the World Cup of Darts (yep, good luck to everybody else there).
At which level we should pose a barely pointed query: if Littler does begin to dwarf the game as Van Gerwen and Taylor as soon as did, however now on a worldwide stage to a worldwide viewers, is {that a} good factor for darts or not? Traditionally talking, the previous few years have been unprecedented of their flux and chaos, an period when the winners’ circle has felt extra accessible than ever and but the game appears to have lacked a coherent narrative as a consequence. Now, maybe, the sides are starting to sharpen somewhat.
Maybe in time they might sharpen somewhat extra. Even Humphries, nonetheless the world No 1 and World Matchplay champion, has stated he expects Littler to dominate earlier than lengthy. The expertise is clearly there and the starvation continues to be contemporary. From a advertising standpoint all of the proof means that dynasties drive numbers: behold the halo impact of a Simone Biles, a Serena Williams, a Tiger Woods. However at what level does unassailability morph into uniformity? Does darts need to inform the world one story, or a number of?
That is maybe a extra pressing concern than many within the sport presently recognise. One of many nice virtues of darts was that completely different occasions all the time had a unique really feel. The Alexandra Palace crowd was day-trippers and hedonists; Minehead was holidaymakers and hardcore; Blackpool was for the cognoscenti, the place the place you truly went to observe and applaud darts. English crowds have been completely different from Scottish crowds, which have been completely different from Dutch crowds, and so forth.
However these distinctions have come to really feel much less and fewer significant with each passing 12 months. Wherever you go, from Glasgow to Graz to Wollongong, “The Darts” is now primarily the identical primary substance: the identical gamers taking part in just about the identical format, the identical fancy gown, the identical soccer songs, the identical fizzy beer, the identical vaguely charged spirit of licentious escapism.
The tendency in direction of monoculture has served darts extraordinarily properly from a industrial standpoint, permitting it to market the identical battle-tested product in each new market. And whereas the faces on the high saved altering – somewhat Van Gerwen, somewhat Michael Smith and Peter Wright, a brief Gerwyn Worth interlude, the odd European bolter – it didn’t actually matter, as a result of there was all the time a contemporary provide of storylines to maintain the wheel turning.
To be truthful, on some stage the PDC does appear to get this. The revival of the Winmau World Masters, with its distinctive first-to-two-set format and nod to the game’s gravy-flecked previous, is an acknowledgment of the necessity for higher selection, extra textures and tones in an more and more stuffed schedule. Arguably, although, they might go additional nonetheless.
The commentator Paul Nicholson – all the time a livewire supply of concepts at occasions like this – has prompt a Royal Rumble-style winner-stays-on occasion, in addition to a Ryder Cup-style crew showdown. And why all the time 501? Why all the time double-out? If the way forward for darts actually is Luke Littler stamping on a human face for ever, why not no less than make him do it in as many various methods as potential?
In the meantime, it’s time for the chasing pack to step up. A rested Humphries, a rejuvenated Van Gerwen and a resurgent Stephen Bunting all have the chance to mount a problem in 2025. I’d prefer to see the richly proficient Damon Heta get an opportunity within the Premier League, and from the youthful era one in all Josh Rock, Gian van Veen or Callan Rydz might simply make the large leap.
However proper now, the usual is being set by one man: if, that’s, he can escape the crushing yoke of stress and expectation that has clearly been holding him again for thus lengthy.
